Coin-receptacle.



J. T. GARTON.

COIN RECEPTACLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11. 1915.

1,181,444. Patented May 2,1916.

WWW. $8M

JOHN" T. GAR-TON, 0F TORONTO, ONTARIO, CAN 'ADAc COIN-RECEPTACLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1916.

Application filed May 17, 1915. Serial No. 28,746.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN T. GARTON, of the city of Toronto, in the county of York, Province of Ontario, Canada, a subject of the King of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin-Receptacles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to boxes such as are frequently located in public places to receive contributions to charitable institutions, and my object is to devise a receptacle for this purpose which will attract givers by the novelty and attractiveness of the advertising or display scheme set in operation by the insertion of a coin.

I attain my object by supporting on the receptacle a transparency, behind which is located an electric lamp. Within the receptacle is located a dry cell in circuit with the lamp, means being provided whereby the circuit is completed by the introduction of a coin and automatically broken thereafter.

The whole is constructed in detail substantially as hereinafter more specifically depot connected therewith.

In the drawings like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

1 represents the casing, which may be of any desired form adapted to contain the the front, is located a transparency 3 set 'in an opening in the front of the casing.

This transparency may be of any form and the term is used to describe a picture to be viewed by transmitted light. Such pictures are quite commonly constructed to present one aspect when viewed by reflected light and quite another aspect when viewed by transmitted light. Such pictures are well adapted for my purpose. For example, if

the receptacle is to be used in collecting for a hospital, the transparency might shoW by reflected light the picture of a patient before treatment, and by transmitted light a plcture of the same patient as he appears after treatment. A panel 4 at the top of the receptacle at the front may also be filled in with a transparency, which by reflected light displays the word Please and by transmitted light the words Thank you.

Behind the transparency is preferably located a reflector 5, in the center of which is located the electric bulb 6. The current for illuminating this bulb may be supplied from any source. Preferably, however, I employ a dry cell 7 located within the receptacle. The reflector 5 is preferably of metal so that one connection with the lamp may be through the reflector and the other by means of a metal strip 8 connected with one terminal of the cell and to the contact at the end of the electric bulb. The circuit may be completed through the spring finger 9, and the contact 10 secured to the reflector. The spring finger normally tends to close the circuit, but is normally held out of engagement with the contact 10 by the finger 11 forming part of the lever 12, which is pivoted on the casing by means of the spindle 13.

To prevent the circuit to the bulb being completed from the lever 12, I provide the finger 11 with the insulation 14, which alone contacts with the finger 9. The lever 12 extends rearwardly of the spindle 18 and has the weight 15 connected thereto, tending to maintain the lever in a position in which the finger 11 breaks the circuit of the electric bulb. This weight is preferably formed as a piston vertically movable in the dash pot 16, restricted leakage being provided past the piston so that the piston will slowly drop and thus allow the circuit of the electric bulb to remain closed an appreciable time after it has been closed by the rocking of the lever. The lever is rocked by the insertion of a coin through the coin slot 2, part of the lever normally lying directly below the slot. The preferable arrangement of the lever is shown more particularly in Figs. 4 and 5.

A slot 17 is formed in the lever, which is normally out of alinement with the coin slot, but which as the lever is rocked downwardly will come into alinement with the slot owing to the fact that the spindle 13 is below the level of the slot 17 when the lever is in its normal position shown in Fig. 5.

The portion of the lever directly below the slot when the lever is in normal position is preferably cut into a series of fingers 18, into the spaces between which fit the downwardly projecting fingers 19 of the easing. The fingers 18, however, cross the coin slot 2 so as to afford a bearing for the edge of the coin pressed down through the slot. As the lever is depressed by the coin, the slot 17 is brought into alinement with the slot 2 and the coin will fall through the slot 17. To prevent the coin tipping toward the rear as it is inserted, I preferably provide on the casing the depending fingers 20, which project between the fingers 21 formed on the lever at the rear side of the slot. These lingers 20 and 21 form a sort of downward extension of the rear wall of the passageway for the coin, which guides it downward in a substantially vertical plane, With this arrangement I insure that the lever will be properly depressed to make the electrical connections, and that after it has been depressed to the desired extent the coin will freely fall through into the interior of the receptacle without being caught between the lever and the coin slot, which would, of course, maintain the circuit closed and thus waste the energy of the battery.

From the construction above described it will be seen that the receptacle is of such a nature as to excite the curiosity of the possible donor, which curiosity is gratified by the insertion of a coin and the view of the transformation consequently obtained. This device is therefore well adapted to induce passers-by to contribute.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A coin receptacle having a coin slot formed therein and provided with a trans parency; an electric lamp behind said transparency; an electric circuit for said lamp including an electric battery within the receptacle; and movable means actuable by a coin pressed against it through the slot for closing said circuit, said means normally tending to open the circuit and to hold it open against the mere weight of a coin.

2. A coin receptacle having a coin slot formed therein and provided with a transparency; an electric'lamp behind said transparency; an electric circuit for said lamp; a switch in said circuit normally tending to close; a lever pivoted within the casing adapted to open and close said switch, the end of said lever being located below the coin slot so that it may be rocked by a coin to allow the switch to close; and a weight tending to rock the lever to open the switch, said weight being sufiicient to prevent the weight of a coin rocking the lever.

3, A coin receptacle having a coin slot formed therein and provided with a transparency; an electric lamp behind said transparency; an electric circuit for said lamp; a switch in said circuit normally tending to close; a lever pivoted within the casing adapted to open and close said switch, the end of said lever being located below the coin slot so that it may be rocked by a coin to allow the switch to close; a weighted piston tending to rock the lever to open the switch, the weight of the piston being sufficient to prevent the weight of a coin rocking the lever; and a dash pot in which said piston moves, restricted leakage past the piston being provided for.

a. A coin receptacle having a coin slot formed therein and provided with a transparency; an electric lamp behind said transparency; an electric circuit for said lamp; a switch in said circuit normally tending to close; a lever pivoted within the casing adapted to open and close said switch, the end of said lever being located below the coin slot so that it may be rocked by a coin to allow the switch to close, said lever being pivoted below the normal position of the end adjacent the coin slOt, so that said end has a horizontal movement relative to the coin slot as the lever is depressed,

5. A coin receptacle having a coin slot formed therein and provided with a nor? mally open electric circuit; a switch in said circuit normally tending to close; a lever pivoted within the casing adapted to open and close said switch, the end of said lever being located below the coin slot so that it may be rocked by a coin to allow the switch to close; a weighted piston tending to rock the lever to open the switch; and a dash pot in which said piston moves, restricted leakage past the piston being provided for.

6. A coin receptacle having a coin slot formed therein and provided with a nor mally open electric circuit; a switch in said circuit normally tending to close; a lever pivoted within the casing adapted to open and close said switch, the end of said lever being located below the coin slot so that it may be rocked by a coin to allow the switch to close, said lever being pivoted below the normal position of the end adjacent the coin slot, said end having a slot therein normally out of alinement with the coin slot and which moves into alinement with the coin slot as the lever is depressed.

7. A coin receptacle having a coin slot formed therein and provided with a nor mally open electric circuit; a switch in said circuit normally tending to close; a lever pivoted within the casing adapted to open and close said switch, the end Of Said lever being located below the coin slot so that it may be rocked by a coin to allow the switch to close, said lever being pivoted below the normal position of the end adjacent the coin slot, said end having a slot therein normally out of alinement with the coin slot and which moves into elinement with the coin slot as the lever is depressed; inwardly facing fingers at opposite sides of the slot in the lever; and downwardly extending finundersigned witnesses.

JOHN T. GARTON.

gers on the casing projecting between the Witnesses: fingers on the lever. E. P. HALL,

Signed at Toronto, Ont, this 12th day of G O. P. MAoKm.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner or Patents,

Washington, D. 6.

May, A. D. 1915, in the presence of the two 

